Improvement in cutting and pressing tobacco



W. W. HUSE.

Tobacco Cutter.

Patented Sept. 27, 1864.

- UNITED .STATES WV. W. HUSE, OF BROOKLYN, NEXV YORK.

IMBROVEMENT IN CUTTING AND PRESSING TOBACCO.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 44.429, dated September27, 1864'.

To all whom, it. imty concern:

Be it known that I, WV. XV. HUsE, of Brooklyn, Kings county, and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMachinery for Pressing and Cutting Tobacco; and Ido hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact descrip tion thereof,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of thisspecification, in which-- Figure 1 is a top View of the machine asadapted for cutting tobacco; Fig. 2, a back elevation, and Fig. 8 alongitudinal vertical section. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of themachine arranged for pressing.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

The object of my invention is so to construct a machine that it can be.used for pressing the tobacco preparatory to and then to cut it, as itis necessary that it should be pressed into a compact state before it iscut. It has been the practice heretofore to use two independentmachines, one to press and the other to out; but with my invention, bysimply changing the position of some of the parts, both operations canbe efficiently performed with one machine.

In the accompanying drawings, a represents a suitable frame, in theupper part of which is formed a horizontal bed, I), with parallel sides0 c, to form a trough or way to receive the tobacco to be out after ithas been pressed, and in whichit is moved toward the cutters. To thistrough is fitted a cap-plate, d, which, after the tobacco has beenplaced, is held down by a wedge-key, 6. At the side of the trough ismounted a horizontal shaft, f, to the front end of which is secured awheel, g, with arms and a crank-handle, and to the inner face of the huband rim of this wheel are secured cutters h h, which stand off from theinner face of the arms sufficiently for the passage of the cut tobacco.I prefer to make the cutting-edge of the cutters convex in the form ofasegment of a circle, and either smooth or serrated, according to thepurpose for which the tobacco may be intended. The front edge of thetrough should be of steel, with a sharp square edge, to facilitate thecutting operation.

The tobacco is fed or pushed forward by a follower, i, on the end of ascrew, j, which passes through a rotating nut, is, mounted in the rearend of a bale, Z,whioh swings on trunnions in m from the sides of theframe, for a purpose to be presently described. WVhenthe machine is usedfor cutting, the bale Z is held in a horizontal position by asecuring-pin, n, or other equivalent means. The nut 70 carries aratchet-wheel, 0,which is actuated by a pawl, p, on an arm, g, whichturns on the rear part of the nut k, and this arm receives a vibratorymotion by a connecting-rod, r, from a crank, s, on the rear end of theshaft f. To regulate the extent of feed there is a cam-plate, 25,against the outer face of the ratchet-wheel, and mounted so that it canturn on the nut k. A portion of the periphery of this plate is of lessdiameter than the ratchet-wheel, and the rest of greater diameter, sothat as the arm q vibrates the pawl 19 the cam form of the edge of thecam-plate will determine when the pawl shall act on the ratchet-teeth.The cam-plate is held by a screw passing through a segment slot, u, toadmit of setting it, so that by turning and setting the plate the extentof feeding motion can be readily adjusted. The horizontal bed I) of thetrough is movable and rests on an open part of the frame a.

Preparatory to cutting tobacco it is to be pressed, and for this purposethe connectingrod ris disconnected from the ratchetarm q,thesecuring-pin n is taken out and the bale Z turned up in a verticalposition, as represented at Fig. 4-,and the nut secured in the baleZ bymeans of a set-screw, o, to prevent it from turning in the bale. The bedZ) is then removed. A portable trough, w, is then placedon the bed-platex of the frame a, the tobacco piled into it, a movable top,y, put ontop, and then, by turning the screw j by a crank-handle, 2, on its outerend, press me is made on the movable top 3 until it is pressed down tothe required extent, and there it is fastened down by wedges or othersuitable means, the screw turned up, and the movable trough taken out.After being so pressed and held, the tobacco can be taken out of thistrough and put into the trough to be cut, as first described. By thesame means tobacco can be pressed into other forms. I am thus enabled touse the same machine for pressing the tobacco and then for cutting it.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

Mounting the nut of the feeding and pressbed of the cutting-trough, asset forth, the said ing screw in abale which can be changed from machinecan be used for pressing or cutting toa vertical to a horizontalposition, substanbacco, as set forth.

tially as described, in combination with the I \VILLIAM XV. HUSE.cutters and with the frame so constructed as XVitnesses: I

by the change of position of the bale which ANDREW DE LACY,

carries the nut of the screw, and moving the WM. H. BISHOP:

